“I actually told Justin I wanted to die”: Paul Walker Wanted to End His Fast and Furious Journey After Vin Diesel’s Undying Obsession With the Franchise
Paul Walker would certainly go down in history as one of the greatest actors the world has ever seen. The American actor was most well known for his role as Brian O’Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise. The fans and cast of the series were absolutely heartbroken after the legendary actor died in an unfortunate car crash back in 2013.
Although Paul Walker was an integral and irreplaceable part of the series, the Fast & Furious franchise still made more sequels without him after giving him a heartfelt farewell in Furious 7 back in 2015.
Paul Walker
Although everyone loved Walker as Brian O’Conner in the series, the actor once revealed that he actually wanted his character to be killed off in the series.
Paul Walker wanted his character to be killed off in the Fast & Furious franchise
Paul Walker initially thought that the Fast & Furious franchise would be finished after the release of 2 Fast 2 Furious back in 2003. However, new sequels kept coming out and Walker found himself coming back to the series. He said,
“I thought we were done the 2nd and the 3rd one kind of came around and this time it was Vin calling up going, ‘hey let’s make one more.’ I think Vin wants to make a 5th, but yeah, I just keep coming back for more.“
Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner
It eventually got so bad that Walker even asked the director of the series, Justin Lin, to kill off his character. Walker talked about the situation in an interview with Collider and said, “I actually told Justin at one point that I wanted to die.” However, Lin was not ready to let the actor go and replied, “It’s not going to happen.”
The Joy Ride actor revealed that he wasn’t really that close to Vin Diesel
Despite how deep their friendship looked on-screen, Paul Walker once revealed in an interview that he wasn’t really Vin Diesel‘s ‘friend‘ off-set. He said,
“We found a respect for one another but we were such opposite ends of the spectrum. The reason why it’s worked is because we are so different.“
The actor further added that although there were days when he wanted to “crack him in the head“, there were also days when they had that mutual respect and love for each other.
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker
Despite everything, the Fast & Furious franchise and Vin Diesel really honored Paul Walker’s legacy by giving his character a fitting farewell in Furious 7. And, even if they weren’t ‘friends‘ on-set initially, Vin Diesel eventually did become his brother off the screen as he walked Walker’s daughter down the aisle at her marriage ceremony back in 2021.
